I take it this is the maidenhead aquatics that PFK had an article about??

they mentioned red tailed cats and pangius in there.

TBH, I wish the sale of these sorts of fish were restricted, and required a licence to own, that way the people keeping them would have to have a minimum standard that they must be kept in (i.e. minimum tank size, stringent controls on the resale of them)

Maidenhead Aquatics have been 1 of the better chains, as the article said they'd not been selling tank-busters for several years as a matter of internal policy.

just wish they'd be a bit more strict on making sure people are educated about the nitrogen cycle when they buy their first tanks/fish from there

Yes it's Maidenhead aquatics and your right about the Nitrate cycle advice.

I'd also like to see some licence for the big fish, petsmart here are still selling oscars with 20 gallon set ups There is even one in the store that is too big for the tank, Maidenhead aquatics were going to buy it and re house it.

On a serious note, it's good to see a shop that not only saves these fish, but it also serves as a great education tool. "Yes Mr. Customer, those fish in that tank get as big as those giant fish in that tank."

This kind of gives people an excuse to buy smaller versions of these monsters. They just know that some day when they need, the LFS will take them in. Its a good idea, but as long as the store isn't selling the fish.

redzebra24 wrote:This kind of gives people an excuse to buy smaller versions of these monsters. They just know that some day when they need, the LFS will take them in. Its a good idea, but as long as the store isn't selling the fish.

your argument is right and wrong.

first off, the article did state that its the LFS's policy not to stock "tank busters" such as Red Tailed Catfish and Giant Gouramies.

however. as TFG pointed out in another thread, people don't seem to realise the size some fish get to, and if by seeing them in person, they then decide they aren't able to accommodate them, surely thats a good thing.

I found a list of what they have in there (though they give a different size to the figure mentioned above. the article has it down as 8000l or 2113 US gallons)

How do they handle compatibility issues? With just a single large tank, they'd have to restrict what they can take... (e.g. only those that really get big - not those that might be too big for small tanks but still okay for mid-size tanks.) I also see they're no longer accepting new fish...

Sort of agreed about big fish being restricted - the question is, what's big? If I have a 100l tank, too big is different than if I have a 600l tank, and the shape of the tank can matter too. One would have to first decide what size/shape tank to target as the maximum before licensing.